Collections in Husband's Name

[Anonymous]

I received a call from a collections agency asking to speak with my husband. The lady said she could speak to me as well regarding the account which I thought wasn't allowed since the account was in his name. She kept trying to get me to commit to a payment schedule and then asked if I would be interested in discussing a settlement on the account. How can I agree to a settlement offer when it's his account, not mine?  I don't want this to pop up on my credit report when my name isn't on the account. The person I spoke to also asked where my husband worked and where I work which again, seemed odd because why would they need to know where I work if I'm not on the account?

[RobertEG]

It is proper.  A spouse is considered the same as the consumer, and is not a third party.

However, that only applies to debt collection practices, not to credit reporting.  They cannot report the collection to your credit report unless you are obligated on the debt (or are still showing as an authorized user on the OC account, which you can readily remove).

FDCPA 805(d) explicitly includes, for purposes of collection of a debt, that the term consumer includes the consumer's spouse, parent (if the consumer is a minor), guardian, or if deceased, and exector or administrator.

They can also request location information pursuant to FDCPA 804, which includes address or phone contacts of the consumer's home or employment.

[Anonymous]

Can they request the spouse's employment information even though they are not responsible for the debt? It just seemed odd that they would want to know where I work as they already have my husband's phone number and I told them he pays his debts separately so they would need to speak to him directly.

[RobertEG]

It is not illegal for them to request.

It is also not requried that you comply.

[Anonymous]

Thanks! The account was charged off by the OC. If I was an authorized user on the account the account would've been reported by the OC on my credit report the same as my husband's, correct? 

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks! The account was charged off by the OC. If I was an authorized user on the account the account would've been reported by the OC on my credit report the same as my husband's, correct? 

---

I am going to jump in - Yes, it would already show in your reports if you were responsible.

CAs want to get as much info as they can to use as leverage to try and collect a debt.  If they get phone numbers for you as a spouse, its another way they can annoy someone to pay the debt to make them go away.

I dont like to give them any info and I tell them to mail out the information they want to tell me, which annoys them because they want to collect now and not maybe collect later.  For me, it removes the emotion and me having to reply immediately.

hth

[Anonymous]

Thanks! I was pretty sure I wasn't added as a AU but it has been 3 years since the acct was opened so I wasn't 100% sure. The OC has never reported the acct to any of my CR's.